Unemployment levels in Spain are 7.9% lower than a year ago, despite a slight increase in October, according to the Ministry of Employment.

In the last 12 months, unemployment figures have fallen by nearly 300,000 to reach a total of 3,467,026. Although this figure may seem high, the Spanish jobs market has come a long way since 2013 when unemployment levels reached over 5 million.

October is a notorious month for rising unemployment levels in Spain; the summer season has ended along with many part-time seasonal contracts. During October, the number of people out of work rose by 56,844 – a sharper increase compared with the same month last year.

The Balearic Islands saw the sharpest rise with unemployment levels rising by 21.2%, followed by La Rioja (7.1%).

At the same time, Catalunya saw unemployment rise by 3.67% – representing an extra 14,698 people out of work. This could be down to the political instability shrouding the region at the moment, although it may be too soon to tell.

The Ministry of Employment’s unemployment figures are always lower than that of the quarterly Active Population Survey (EPA) because their data comes from the unemployment offices. Some people choose not to register as unemployed, so the figures from the EPA are usually a lot higher; in Q3 there were 3.73 million unemployed in Spain, according to the EPA.